I started after Leah, but Claudia caught my arm. “NAH, STAY! FRANNA WILL WATCH OVER HER.”
Woody said, “Be at your ease for now, Charlie. Rest if you can. You must be exhausted.”
I explained that we escapees might become sleepy once the sun was up, but for now we were wide awake. It didn’t hurt to be jacked up on adrenalin and the hard-to-believe joy of being out of the dungeon and away from the killing field.
Woody listened, nodded, and wrote a note for Claudia. I was fascinated at how neat and even his writing was, even though he couldn’t see. The note said, Charlie and his band are used to waking night, sleeping day. Claudia nodded that she understood.
“She’s angry because she loved him, isn’t that right? When I met her she said—through Falada—that Elden was always good to her.”
Woody wrote on his pad and held it up to Claudia: He wants to know about L and E. Beneath this he had drawn a question mark.
“TELL HIM WHAT YOU WILL,” Claudia boomed. “WE HAVE A LONG NIGHT AND LONG NIGHTS ARE GOOD FOR STORIES. HE DESERVES TO KNOW.”
“All right,” Woody said. “Know then, Charlie, that Leah chooses to believe Elden dead because she will not believe, cannot, that he has become the Flight Killer. As children they were like this.” He put his hands together and interlaced the fingers. “Some of it was just the circumstances of birth. They were the two youngest, and when they weren’t ignored, they were picked on. The older sisters—Dru, Ellie, Joy, and Fala—hated Leah because she was her mother and father’s youngest, their pet, but also because they were plain and she was pretty—”
“WHAT’S HE TELLING YOU?” Claudia blared. I decided she could read lips a little after all. “IS HE BEING DIPLOMATIC, AS WAS HIS JOB IN THE DAYS WHEN JAN SAT THE THRONE? NAH, NAH, TELL THE TRUTH, STEPHEN WOODLEIGH! LEAH WAS AS BEAUTIFUL AS A SUMMER MORNING AND THE OTHER FOUR WERE AS UGLY AS STONE BOATS! THOSE FOUR TOOK AFTER THEIR FATHER, BUT LEAH WAS HER MOTHER’S IMAGE!”
Again, ugly as stone boats wasn’t exactly what she said but what I heard. I think I don’t have to tell you that what I was hearing was another fairy tale. All it lacked was a glass slipper.
“The girls sharpened their already sharp tongues on Elden,” Woody said. “Called him Stumpy and Deadfoot and Mr. Squint and Grayface—”
“Grayface? Really?”
Woody gave a thin-lipped smile. “You begin to see a bit of his revenge, do you not? Since Elden Flight Killer came to rule, Empis is populated almost solely by grayfaced people. He’s rooting out the few who are immune to the curse, and he would kill every monarch butterfly if he could. He wants no flowers in his garden, only weeds.”
He leaned forward, clasping his knees, his pad of paper in one hand.
“But girls use only words. His brother terrorized Elden with punches and kicks when there was no one around to see but his loyal cadre of lickspittles. There was no need for it; Robert was as fair of face as Elden was ugly, he was petted and cosseted by his parents while Elden was largely ignored by them, and Robert had no cause for jealousy on account of the throne, since he was the older and bound to take it when Jan died or stepped down. He just hated and loathed his younger brother. I think…” He paused, frowning. “I think there’s always a reason for love, but sometimes hate just is. A kind of free-floating evil.”
I didn’t reply, but thought of my two Rumpelstiltskins: Christopher Polley and Peterkin. Why had the dwarf gone to all the trouble of erasing the trail of initials that would have taken me out of the city long before dark? Why had he risked his life—and lost it—to point me out to Red Molly? Because I’d crossed him in the matter of the red cricket? Because I was tall and he was short? I didn’t believe that for a minute. He’d done it because he could. And because he wanted to cause trouble.
Franna came back in and whispered in Woody’s ear. He nodded.
“She says there’s a church nearby that hasn’t been destroyed. Leah has gone in there with Dora—the lady who mends the shoes—and a few others to sleep.”
I remembered seeing the church. “Maybe that’s good. She must be tired.” For Claudia’s benefit I pointed to Franna at the door, then put my hands together and laid my head against them.
“TIRED? LEAH AND ALL OF US! WE’VE HAD A LONG TRIP, SOME OF THESE FOR MANY DAYS!”
“Go on, please,” I said to Woody. “You were saying the girls hated Leah and Robert hated Elden—”